Amid all the constant talk about delinquent and dangerous children, it is easy to forget that youthful rebellion can also be a positive and lovable thing. Dennis the Menace embodies this more optimistic view. He questions heavy-handed adult authority with an imagination and an energy that has inspired millions. The fact that he sometimes wins reminds us that age does not always correlate to wisdom. Instead of the guns and knives we hear so much about, Dennis's weapons of choice are the water pistol, the catapult and the peashooter. Similarly, he has proper schoolboy friends with proper schoolboy nicknames, like Pie-Face and Curly, rather than names with attitude like Global Threat and Venomous. Dennis never spends any of his time posing and posturing on the internet - there is no Facebook shanking or YouTube happy-slapping in Beanotown. Rather, his image is simple and iconic. He wears the same unbranded stripy jumper every day, and shorts in the winter, not tracksuit bottoms in the summer. His trademark hair is always unkempt, and he never attempts to look, act or be treated as older than he is. With no interest in impressing the opposite sex, nor any stress from exams, Dennis is completely impervious to the worries that afflict the youth of contemporary Britain. This is perhaps his most essential aspect. In a climate that constantly suggests the contrary, the overriding message of Dennis the Menace is that childhood is there to be enjoyed.